Mechanism for manufacturing cylindrical containers out of fibrous material suspendedin a liquid



Aug. l, 1939.

G.l HELD MECHANISM FOR MANUFACTURING CYLINDRICAL CONTAINERS OUT 0FFIBROUS MATERIAL SUSPENDED IN A LIQUID Original Filed July 22, 1956Patented Aug. l, 1939 UNITED STATES l PATENT OFFICE Gottfried Held,Bern, Switzerland Application July 22,v 1936, Serial No. 92,052. Re-

newed April 12, 1939. In Switzerland August 3 l Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for the manufacturingof vessels such as pails, packing drums, barrels and the like out offibrous material suspended in a liquid, whereby 5 said manufacturingconsists of a combination of the ordinary centrifugal method with apressuremethod specifically serving for the formation of the bottom ofsuch a said container; and the objects of my improvement are, rst, toprovide a f smooth surface on the inside of said container and astructurally more equal and tighter wall; second, to afford facilitiesfor building the bottom of a container sufficiently strong; and, third,to afford means to reinforce such containers during the manufacturingwith the aid of proper inserts into the Walls and bottom of suchcontainers.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the entire machine;Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 shows details-to a larger scale-of the machine.

The drawing illustrates a design-example of a mechanism for carryingthrough the method of manufacturing referred to above. The mechanismembodies a centrifuge with the base-plate 2 which suitably is detachablyfastened to the vertical shaft I. A bevelled gear aggregate 3 is drivingthe said shaft I; the latter, however, also could be driven by way andmeans of a directly 0 coupled electric motor. A cylindrical coarsesieve4-built up of a plurality of parts-is exchangeably inserted into aring-shaped groove 2a of the base-plate 2, and the said parts of thesieve 4 are held together by means of a ring 5.

5 A bottom-plate 6 possessing drain-holes 6a serves-in combination witha pressure-device-- for the formation of the bottom of the container.Said plate 6 is sitting on top of the shaft I and alsoby way of itsbottom-rib--on the bed plate u 2. The said pressing device possesses avertical hollow shaft 'I which is vertically displaceable in acylindrical guide B and is secured against turning by means of a key andkeyway (Fig. 3). The shaft 'I is adapted as a rack possessing horizontal5 teeth 9 engaging with a pinion I0. The latter is mounted fast on theaxle II of a hand-wheel I2. The axle II is turnable in a bush I3 whichforms a single piece together with the guide 8. The latter is held by ayoke not illustrated. The

n shaft 1 is stepped off at I4, and an annular anglecollar I5 sitsloosely on said stepped-olf shaft. A helical spring I6, laid around saidshaft, at one end abuts against said collar I5 and at the other endagainst the cage I1 of a ball-bearing I8. Said cage rests on the collarI9 of a cover 20, and the shaft 'I has some play in said collar I9. Thesaid part -in the fully drawn-out position of Fig. 1-covers thecoarse-sieve 4. A bearing bush 22 is fastened to the bottom end of shaft'I by means of a pin 2i. Another pin 23 is held in said 5 bush 22-in amanner not shownand said pin 23 is turnable in ball-bearings 24. At itsbottomend said pin 23 possesses a flange 25 with which the perforatedpress-plate 26 is connected by means of screws.- An angle-shelf collar2l is lll screwed onto the lower end of the bearing bush 22 andformstogether with the flange 25- a labyrinth seal, schematicallyindicated at 28, against-l the loss of oil. The cover 20 is providedwith an annular groove 29 on the bottom-side 16 and the top edge of thecoarse-sieve 4 engages into said groove. The diameter of the press-plate26 is such that the edge of the latter-with the shaft 'I rising afterthe manufacturing operation of a container has been finished-does nottouch 26 the inside wall of the said container.

The inner side of the coarse-sieve 4, as well as the top side of thebottom-plate B, is lined with a detachable fine-sieve 30 consisting ofone piece. The bottom side of the press-plate Il] also is 25 providedwith a fine-sieve. Said fine-sieves may consist, e. g., of a wire-meshin combination with a fibrous material, or of a wire-mesh lined on oneside with a filter-cloth.

The hollow shaft 'I-above the bearing bush 30 22-is provided withopenings 3| for the passage of a suspension of brous material which isfedout of a vessel which is not shown-through a flexible conduit, e. g.,a hose, which also is not shown, into the said hollow shaft l.

The manufacturing operation by way and means of the described mechanismis taking place as follows:

After the bottom-plate 6 and the coarse-sieve 4 have been mounted on theshaft I or, respec- 40 tively, on the base-plate 2, the fine-sieve 36 isinserted and such a quantity of suspended brous material is filled intothe form thus formed as is required for the formation of the bottom ofthe container. At this stage the ring I5, the spring 45 I6, the cage IT,the cover 20 and the press-plate 26 occupy the position indicated Abythe dotted lines of Fig. 1. By turning now the hand-wheel I2, the shaftI with the press-plate 26 and the cover 20 is moved downward. At thisjuncture 50 the cover ZIJ--as shown by the full lines of Fig. 1--comesto lie onto the top-edge of the coarse-sieve 4, while the press-plate 26drops farther until it occupies the position shown by thefull lines.whereby the lled-in material is being pushed against the bottom-plate 4.The water escapes through the holes of the press-plate and through thesieve 4, while an eventual surplus of material is laterally squeezedupward between the press-plate and the fine-sieve. With the press-plate26 occupying the operating position, the spring I6 is stressed throughthe pressure of the heel I4 of the shaft 1 onto the ring I5. At thisstage material is introduced into the form by way of the hollow shaft 1and the centrifuge is being put in operation. The bottom plate takes thepress-plate-which is being pushed against the brous material-along andthe pin 23 turns in the ball-bearings 24 of the bearing bush 22.Similarly the coarse-sieve 4 carries the cover 20 with it which turns inthe ball-bearing I8 around the shaft 1. The whole form, including thepress-plate, thus is turning around the shaft 1, and the latter remainsstationary. The suspended fibrous material is laying itself in an equallayer against the fine-sieve 30, while the water is being drained offthrough channels and means not shown. In order to avoid that water bethrown into the operating space, one suitably provides an apron which isdetachably mounted on the base-plate 2 and which surrounds thecoarse-sieve 4 at a certain distance. Said apron is not shown in thedrawing. After a container has been finished, the

shaft 'l with the press-plate 26 is raised by means of the hand-wheel;the bearing bush 22 then pushes against the cover 20 and is taking thelatter-together with the parts IS-IB-along into the position shown bythe dotted lines. The shape produced then may yet be after-dried byintroducing hot air into the form.

The design-example illustrated shows a circumferential 'epression 32 onthe edge of the topside of the bottom-plate 8 through which areinforcing rib is produced on the outside of the container-bottom. Saiddepression, however, also may be dispensed with.

Containers which must be built structurally strong may be reinforcedduring the manufacturing operation by means of inserts of wood, wire,wire-mesh and the like.

In order to produce containers of different size,

one only needs to correspondingly exchange the pressed air-method-withthe further advantageof producing a much stronger and more resistantcontainer-bottom by way and means of the pressure-method as comparedwith the methods applied heretofore. The method and procedure describedis not limited by the size of the containers to be manufactured, so thatalso packing drums, barrels and the like may be made by ways and meansof the mechanism described.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine of the character described, comprising a mechanicallyoperated centrifugal part and a manually operated pressure assembly; thecentrifugal part comprising a rotative shaft, a base plate detachablyfastened to the latter, an exchangeable perforated circular mould ridingon the said plate, an individual and detached perforated bottom platealso riding on the said plate, and an exchangeable and detached topplate riding on the top of the said mould and possessing a centralcircular opening; the said pressure assembly comprising a hand-wheel, anaxle rotatable in a bush, a pinion keyed to the said axle, astationary'guide in the form of a hollow axle integral with the saidbush, a hollowshaft segmentally adapted as a rack which may be raisedand lowered inside the said guide by means of the said rack and pinion,means fastened to the center portion of the said shaft for the purposeof exerting a steady pressure against the said top plate of thecentrifugal part, the lower portion of the said shaft projecting throughthe said opening of the-latter plate and possessing a plurality 0f holesfor the purpose of admitting pulp fed through the said shaft into thespace enclosed by the said mould, and a bottom assembly pinned to thesaid shaft and comprising, in its turn, a bottom-most perforatedpressure plate, a flange screwed to the latter, a plurality ofball-bearings, a housing for the latter, a pin held fast in the saidhousing and rotatable on the said ball-bearings, and a cap screwed ontothe said `housing which, together with the said flange, forms alabyrinth seal for the lubricating oil; the whole in such an operativeassociation that the spinning of the said centrifugal part is buildingthe Wall of the container While the bottom of 'the latter simultaneouslyis moulded under pressure applied axially by the said pressure assembly.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the base plate of saidcentrifugal part is provided with a peripheral recess and saidcentrifugal part further comprises a loose and exchangeable sectionalfine-mesh wire-cage as an inside lining for the said bottom plate andtop plate and the said perforated mould; the said recess being providedfor the purpose of incorporating a reinforcing circumferential rib intothe bottom of the container to be manufactured, and the finemeshwire-cage serving for the purposeof retaining the pulp in its properlocation. y

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein is further provided a looseand exchangeable sectional flne-mesh wire-cage as an inside lining forthe said bottom plate and top plate and the said perforated mould, andan insert or lining of brous and permeable material or of filter-clothfor the saidlwire-cage. r

GOTTFRIED HELD.

